Combination milk and mail box.



N.- zUNINo.y COMBINATION MILK AND MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23. 1911)'.

Patented Apr. 4, 1911.-

THS Nonni: rrrlk: co., wAslHNaroN, n. c.

NICOLA ZUNINO, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

COMBINATION MILK AND MAIL BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1911.

Application led November 23, 1910. Serial No. 593,827.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NICOLA ZUNiNo, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented new and useful Improvements in Combination Milk and MailBoxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved combina-tion milk and mail box.

More particularly it is the object of the invention to provide a box orreceptacle which may stand by the side of the street or in any otherplace accessible to the public wherein a milk contractor without havinga key may extract an empty bottle and deposit a customers daily supplyof milk, the receptacle being locked so that an unauthorized personcannot remove the milk; the box being also available for use inreceiving delivery of mail from a carrier.

It is one object of the invention to provide means by which thesefunctions may be served in succession, or may be served simultaneously;but the invention is not limited to the combination of these functionsbut also resides in the provision of them separately, in case, forexample, it is not desired to 1use the receptacle for mail, but only formi k.

It is also the object of the invention to provide apparatus having theother advantages of that hereinafter described.

The objects of the invention are accomplished by an application of theprinciples of construction and arrangement herein set forth, oneembodiment of the invention being illustrated in the accompanyingdrawlngs.

i In the drawings: Figure 1 is a view in perspective of apparatusembodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, with the addition of abottle shown in dotted lines; and Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentaryelevations corresponding to Fig. y2, showing modifications of theinvention.

Referring to the drawings, a box or receptacle 9 is seen having a drawer10 working vertically, there being a handle 10 by which it may belifted. This drawer is closed on its top, bottom and left-hand side, asseen in the drawings, but is open on the right-hand side where its edgeis marked 12. The drawer is capable of receiving a j ar 11 which maycontain milk or other substance; and the shape and dimensions of thedrawer are designed so that a jar of customary size, for example a quartjar, will substantially fill it as shown in the full lines in Figs. 2and 3. When the drawer 10 is raised above the level of the top 13 of thereceptacle, a jar 11 may be inserted from the right and placed in theposition in the drawer shown in full lines in Fig. 2, after whichV thedrawer may be returned to its position shown in Fig. 2. In the left wallof the drawer is an opening l5 through which plays a plunger 14 having aknob 14 and a spring 14 by which the plunger is normally held retractedin the position shown in Fig. 2. Having placed the jar in the drawer andreturned the drawer to the receptacle the milk-man pushes the knob 14',thereby causing plunger 14 to push the bottle 11 to the dotted lineposition marked 11.

The drawer is thus locked, because the top of the jar engages theunderside of the top 13 of the receptacle. If desired, the plunger 14may be omitted and a hole 14l left in its place in the outer wall of thebox 9, registering with' the hole l5 of the drawer. Through these twoholes the milk-man may insert his linger or a stick to push the jar intothe described position 11, as represented in Fig. 5. If the jar bepushed by these means, or by any other means, far enough to the right inFig. 2, it will be out of the drawer 10. The drawer l0 may then be againwithdrawn and another jar in serted in like manner, and pushed over bythe plunger 14, or by other means, so that both are locked within. Asmany jars as the dimensions of the receptacle permit may thus beinserted, successively, and the last one of them locks the receptacle asbefore described. Upon opening the door 16 these jars may be removedfrom the receptacle. Their unauthorized removal is prevented by the door16 being locked under normal conditions.

As above described, the jar itself serves as a bolt to prevent theopening of the drawer. The insertion of any implement through the hole15 to pull the jar back into the drawer to unlock it is prevented by thefact that the stem of the plunger (Figs. 1 and 2) lills the hole throughthe box. If a smaller jar, for example, a pint jar as represented in thedotted line 11" of Fig. 3, be employed, such as is used for cream, theabstraction of this small jar is prevented in the same way, although theshortness of the jar makes it possible in this case for the drawer 10 tobe withdrawn a short distance before it is locked by the top of the jarengaging the top of the box, the filling pieces 18 on each side of theupperzpart ofthe drawer 10 prevent the insertion of a persons hand farenough to get at such a jar and move it back into the drawer. So alsothese filling pieces prevent the hand and wrist from being inserted farenough to reach a jar which has been pushed very far to the right, farenough to clear the bottom 17; and it will also be obvious that in anysuch case an attempt to insert the hand can only be made when the drawer10 is partly raised, and that under such circumstances the bottom 17constitutes a barrier which prevents a jar from being extracted throughthe opening constituted when the drawer is opened. The projection 17 ofthe bottom to the right makes this bottom more eiective as a barrier incase of such an attempt; and it also, by engaging the underside of top13 prevents the complete withdrawal of the drawer.

A modification of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 4 in which thelateral movement of the jar is eliected automatically. In that case a.vertical slot 14b is formed in the lower part of the left side of thedrawer, approximately under where the hole 15 is in Fig. 2, this slotbeing cut a little into the bottom of the drawer and being adapted toregister with an incline or n 14C projecting from the interior of box 9and constituting what may be called a cam. The jar 11 having beenplaced'in the drawer 10, as before described, encounters this cam at theposition shown in full lines in Fig. 4, when the drawer is beingreturned to its normal position. As the drawer continues to descend, thecam pushes the jar laterally from that position to the position 11 shownin dotted lines in Fig. 4, as the jar .slides down the face of the cam.

For using the receptacle as a mail box a slot 23 is provided in the top13. A removable plate of sheet metal 20 is provided which may occupy theposition shown in full lines in Fig. 2, where it rests in groove 21 onthe bottom of the interior of the box,

' grooves 21', 2lb, at the left of the door. The

width of the partition is such that the door when closed holds it inthese grooves. A block 18 on the door and a corresponding Y p block 18.on the rear Wall may project far enough so that they hold in a centralposition any jar that ,may occupy that part of the receptacle, as thelling pieces 18 do in Fig. 3; so that by means of these blocks thetipping of a jar sideways is prevented. It will be observed that theseblocks help constitute the above described vertical grooves 21a, 2lb.The movable partition 20 has a iange 22 at the top adapted to standunder and thus to close the slot 23 when the partition is in the fullline position. When the partition is changed to the dotted line'position of Fig. 2, the slot 23 `is left open and, the door 16 beingclosed, mail matter may be deposited in the box through the slot 23without being accessible to any person who may pull out the drawer 10.In the apparatus illustrated, the dimensions are such that when thepartition is in the dotted line position, the box being thereforearranged as a mail box, a single jar may be inserted in the drawer 10and locked in the receptacle. By making adequate space between theposition 21b and the bottom 16 of the drawer, room for another jar maybe provided so that a capacity of two jars is provided at the same timethe device is available for mail, neither side being accessible from theother. Of course the flange 22 may be omitted, in which case the slotV23 is always open. 1n such case the entire capacity is available eitherfor jars or for mail when the partition is in position 21a. The purposeof the flange 22, when used, is to prevent any person from pushing a jarback into the drawer by means of an implement inserted through slot 23.The partition itself serves the same purpose when in position 2lb.

In ordinary usage it is contemplated that a householder in a ruraldistrict or elsewhere, having installed the apparatus in ak tition 20from the full' line to the dotted line position. This leaves the box incondition to receive mail and to protect it against removal by anunauthorized person. Afterv the post-man has passed, the householderreturns,removes the mail, puts the partibe made from the precisearrangements here illustrated, without departingA from the principles orscope of the invent-ion, and also that the receptacle may be designedand used as a milk box without using it as a mail box, or that it may beused for both with separatev compartments as above de scribed, or may beused with the same compartment serving for both.

If the mail slot 23 be arranged in the adjacent vertical end of thereceptacle instead of as shown, it will be closed by the partition 20when in the position shown in Figs. l and 2 and the liange 22 will beunnecessary. The vertical arrangement of the `drawer 10 is an advantagebecause an article, such as a milk jar, when set therein and shifted tolocking' position, is firmly engaged against a flat or stable base. Thefact that it .is sitting upright gives a suitable bearing against whichthe pressure is received when one tries to open the drawer.

I claim as my invention:

l. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a receptaclehaving a drawer adap-ted to admit an article when open, means wherebythe article so admitted may be shifted to a position where it engagesbetween the end of the drawer and the Wall of the receptacle to lock thedrawer; and means for access to t-he interior of the receptacle whilethus locked.

2. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a receptaclehaving a drawer adapted to admit an article when open, means whereby thearticle so admitted may be shifted to a position where it engagesbetween the end of the drawer and the wall of the receptacle to lock thedrawer; and means for access to the interior of the receptacle whilethus locked; the said drawer moving vertically, whereby it is the topand bottom of the article which are engaged as aforesaid, the said wallof the receptacle being substantially parallel to the said end of thedrawer.

3. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a receptaclehaving a drawer adapted to admit an article when open; means for accessto the article from the exterior to push it, when the drawer is closed,into position where it blocks the opening of the drawer; and means foraccess to the interior of the receptacle while thus locked.

4. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a receptaclehavin a drawer adapted to admit an article W en open; a plunger, mountedin the receptacle, adapted to shift the article in the drawer afterclosing, to lock the receptacle; said plunger having external operatingmeans; and means for access to the interior of the receptacle when thuslocked.

5. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a receptaclehaving a drawer adapted to admit an article when open, means whereby thearticle so admitted may be shifted to a position where it engagesbetween the end of the drawer and the wall of the receptacle to lock thedrawer; and means for access to the interior of the receptacle whilethus locked; there beinr additional space in the receptacle to whidharticles may be shifted from the drawer thus permitting the opening ofthe drawer and insertion of articles successively.

6. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a receptaclehaving an opening adapted for admission of articles; and a separateopening adapted for admission of mail, both delivering into common spacein the receptacle; the entrance for articles being on one side of thecommon space and the entrance for mail being in the top of the commonspace; said partition being movable, and having vertical and horizontalportions, the former closing the entrance for the articles when thepartition is in one position and the latter closing the entrance formail when the partition is in its other posiion; and means for removingthe contents.

Signed by me at Boston, Mass., this 16th day of November, 1910.

NICOLA ZUNINO.

Witnesses:

EVERETT E. KENT, JOSEPH T. BRENNAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

